Marguerites Cookbook

A cooking blog all about making vintage recipes from a cookbook we inherited from our grandmother

Crab Meat Ramekins

crabmeatramekins

When we chose this recipe, we thought it would be fun to try something pretty different than the rest of the cookbook. When we actually made it, we found out something even cooler. This was one of Aaron’s mom’s favorite recipes. Marguerite made it a lot for her because she liked it. It was also another semi-diet recipe Marguerite had in her cookbook.

crabmeatramekins

When we chose it, neither of us knew what a ramekin was. We picked up a few from Sur la Table to make this recipe. I love the simplicity of the white ramekins. They are going to make great cookware for other recipes in the future I’m sure! But for now, back to the crab meat ramekins.

Here is what Marguerite had to say:

crabmeatramekinsrecipe

As you can see, there were NO instructions with this “recipe!” Upon consulting some other sources we figured out how we wanted to prepare the crab meat ramekins. We started by putting the ingredients in a saucepan to heat everything up. When doing that, Aaron thought that one 6 oz can of crab meat might not be enough. It turned out that the single can of crab meat was plenty.crabmeatramekins

 

We did have to change the amounts some in the recipe, specifically the bread and cheese for the top. In discussing the recipe with Aaron’s mom, she told him that she remembered the little brown ramekins that Marguerite used to make them in. She also commented that the tops of those were tapered and smaller than the rest of the ramekin. That made needing more bread and cheese to cover our ramekins make total sense!

crabmeatramekins

I prefer lobster, especially since I spent a summer in Maine, but thought these crab meat ramekins were delicious! (It may have been the cheese and bread.) All jokes aside, I did really enjoy this recipe, and so did Aaron. He did think that if we tried it again he may want to use lump crab instead. If you’re somewhere you can use fresh crab this summer, we hope you give that a try!

Crab Meat Ramekins
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
4 ramekins 15 minutes
Cook Time
8-10 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 ramekins 15 minutes
Cook Time
8-10 minutes
Crab Meat Ramekins
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
4 ramekins 15 minutes
Cook Time
8-10 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 ramekins 15 minutes
Cook Time
8-10 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: ramekins
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375.
  2. Put the cream of celery soup and mushrooms in a medium saucepan over medium low heat.
  3. After a few minutes, whisk in the skim milk.
  4. Add the crab meat and lemon juice and mix ingredients together.
  5. Pour mixture into 7 oz. ramekins.
  6. Top with cubed bread and cheese.
  7. Place in oven for 8-10 minutes or until bread has browned and cheese has melted.
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Stuffed French Toast

Stuffed French Toast

 

I am not a fan of breakfast food. Ron Swanson, if he were a real person and not a character, would not like me. I generally find breakfast food to be way too heavy to consume that early in the morning and it makes me feel all kinds of sluggish. However, this stuffed french toast might inspire me to make an exception to my dislike of breakfast food.

Stuffed French Toast

Here is what Marguerite had to say:

Stuffed French Toast

It is very convenient that Marguerite wrote the dipping mixture in simple amounts so they can be multiplied for each serving you’re making.  While crushing the corn flakes was a little tedious, this whole recipe was simple to make.  Putting the layers of bread, cream cheese, jam, and corn flakes together took almost no time at all and then it was time for a delicious breakfast!

Stuffed French Toast

And a delicious breakfast it was!  Delicious and sweet, although sweet does not even begin to describe this stuffed french toast recipe. Seriously, it was like eating cake for breakfast.  I really enjoyed that the flavors of the french toast, the sweetness of the cream cheese and the jam, and the crunch of the corn flakes mixed together so well.

Stuffed French Toast

Aaron also really liked the stuffed french toast.  While he also thought they were sweet and were a nice combination of flavors, he enjoys sweet things more than I do.  He gobbled them up with his coffee and was very content afterwards.  If you would prefer a more simple french toast, you could just go for the plain dipped kind, it’s good on its own too!  Happy Breakfast-ing!

Stuffed French Toast

Stuffed French Toast
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
1 (2 slices of bread per serving) 10 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Servings Prep Time
1 (2 slices of bread per serving) 10 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Stuffed French Toast
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
1 (2 slices of bread per serving) 10 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Servings Prep Time
1 (2 slices of bread per serving) 10 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: (2 slices of bread per serving)
Instructions
  1. Whisk egg, cream, vanilla, and sugar together to make dip mixture.
  2. Spread cream cheese on one slice of bread. Add Jam. Close Sandwich.
  3. Dip in mixture.
  4. Cover with crushed cornflakes.
  5. Put 1 Tbsp of butter on griddle. Put Sandwich on low heat. Brown and turn.
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Ham Cheese Strata

Ham and Cheese Strata

When we started this recipe, neither of us really knew what to expect.  But, I thought, “Bread and cheese and warm, maybe it’ll be like grilled cheese and I’ll love it!”  That’s not quite how it turned out, and since I love a good grilled cheese sandwich, was a little disappointed.

Ham and Cheese Strata

We really couldn’t discern a lot of details about what this recipe had in store for us from just what Marguerite wrote.  Take a look for yourself:

Original Ham and Cheese

It really started to make sense when Aaron called his mother to ask her opinion about part of the recipe.  After getting our question answered, Aaron asked her if she remembered having it.  She did remember.  Although not well, she did recall it tasting like and reminding her of quiche.  Of course, soaking the whole thing in an egg mixture, it does start to make sense as a breakfast dish once it is pointed out to you.  Upon further research, it turns out that the Strata is a layered casserole dish, whose most common modern variation is a brunch dish similar to a quiche or frittata!

Ham and Cheese Strata

I was not a fan, although I couldn’t tell you why exactly.  However, Aaron loves breakfast foods, and was pleasantly surprised that this dish tasted quiche-like.  He actually heated it up almost every morning the week we made it and had some for breakfast.  A few improvements he would make:

  • More Meat: The recipe had no instruction on the amount of ham to put in.  Aaron put in less than one pound and found it to be a pitiful amount, so we have suggested two pounds in the recipe
  • More Cheese: Because, why not?  But really, it lacked overall in cheesy-ness as well.

Ham and Cheese Strata

Aaron’s mom also told us this was a dish Marguerite would often prepare the night before an let saturate overnight (as the recipe suggests.)  All in all, this is a simple dish to make that you can prepare the night before, and then pop in the oven in the morning before the kiddos (or your husband or wife) wake up.  Enjoy!

Ham Cheese Strata
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
6-12 10 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
1 hour 2-8 hours
Servings Prep Time
6-12 10 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
1 hour 2-8 hours
Ham Cheese Strata
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
6-12 10 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
1 hour 2-8 hours
Servings Prep Time
6-12 10 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
1 hour 2-8 hours
Ingredients
Servings:
Instructions
  1. Arrange six slices of bread in a 9 x 13 pan.
  2. Cover with slices of American cheese.
  3. Scatter diced ham over each slice.
  4. Sprinkle a little dried minced onion over each slice.
  5. Cover with six more slices of bread.
  6. Mix slightly beaten eggs with milk. Add salt and pepper. Pour over sandwiches.
  7. Refrigerate at least two hours or even overnight.
  8. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees. Let set 10 minutes before serving.
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